Anything good to use a ExpressCard 54 slot for?

C

colinstu

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I plan on getting a Lenovo Thinkpad x220 tablet sometime mid-late this year but I'm curious if there is anything I can use the expresscard slot for.

I used to remember seeing a bunch of small SSDs that could be inserted in said slot, but looking on newegg these days there's only one option... and it sounds like it's hot, slow, and prone to failure.

What has happened? I wouldn't mind having some extra storage and a possible readyboost drive. Do these SSDs stick out of the laptop at all or are they flush?

If there are any other things that I could put in there, tell me :)
 
I asked the same question at one point last year and got basically nothing of any use back - that's not to say people didn't respond to the question, just that some SSD-style storage was the only thing that ended up being of any potential, and yes, even those aren't worth the trouble most of the time.

Aside from getting some 3G/4G mobile broadband card or the SSD option, there's really nothing going on with ExpressCards. I think there's a Wi-Fi card or two out there but that's basically ubiquitous and standard equipment for any laptop made in the past 10 years now - 3G/4G capability is also included with WWAN miniPCI/miniPCI-E cards but those are still optional things.

It's just one of those aspects of technology that had great promise but "fizzled" because of the lack of anyone caring enough to get serious about it. Most of the tech the ExpressCard slot was designed for ended up being internalized as part of the standardized components... go figure. :p
 
The Expresscard SSDs don't stick out, or at least my Lexar doesn't. I have a few devices that plug into the slot:

1. SSD
2. esata adapter
3. mini remote control (stored there)
 
Joe Average is right. Great idea, didn't take off.

If ExpressCard had more bandwidth, it would have been usable for adding external GPUs to laptops. I mean, even as is, external GPUs did show benefits, but were choked. Unfortunately, there was about one unit that I'm aware of (Asus XG-Station) sold in Australia for a ridiculous price.
 
You could add in a USB card. There's a couple that won't stick out.
 
What I have:
TV tuner card, I have an Avermedia expresscard 54 that works better than my Hauppage stuff.
Gigabit ethernet for an HP laptop that only came with 10/100 internal
Firewire card for when needed
Dual esata SGII card. convenient for extenal sata drives

lately though there doesn't seem any support anymore, and most new laptops have dropped the slot.
 
pxc said:
The Expresscard SSDs don't stick out, or at least my Lexar doesn't. I have a few devices that plug into the slot:

1. SSD
2. esata adapter
3. mini remote control (stored there)
Click to expand...

can you link to the remote control? Sounds cool. I'm getting a laptop with an ExpressCard slot and my OCD commands me to fill it with something :)
 
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